Grand Theft Auto 4 has to be one of the most anticipated games of all time. Maybe it's thanks to all the criticisms it gets from the mass media (any press is good press, right?), or maybe it's because it lets you do everything you can't do in real life, or maybe it's just that good of a game. It sure is getting a lot of positive reviews. A LOT. Heck, one game journal even wrote an article reviewing the hype in all of the reviews about the game (rated in number of knickers in a twist out of 5 of course). But I had to see for myself, so I went out and bought it today.

At first glance, the most striking thing is the graphics. I've played each previous iteration of GTA, but they were all a little limited by the previous generation of consoles. It really feels like this generation of consoles is where it was meant to be. The voice acting is good as always, but it aided by the improved animations and facial expressions of the in game characters.

So far, the story is a somewhat of a dark one, of a new immigrant to NYC- I mean liberty city- who's been disillusioned by his cousin into thinking he's coming to live in his mansion. The gritty life that really is in store for him begins when he has to fight off loan sharks his cousin owes money to. But make no mistake about them calling this liberty city, it's unmistakably a recreation of New York, and an impressive one at that.

But that's about as much as I've seen so far. More to come later.